Don't we all want to eat healthy but tasty food every day if we can? Unfortunately it's not easy to get that in the CBD for a good price. Grain Traders at CapitaGreen is a good example of that. Rice or grain bowls have been trending in recent years as the next big thing to have for lunch, but they are essentially what we Asians have been having since forever - just healthier versions of nasi padang, or point-point rice as we call it, in a bowl.

I tried them a couple of weeks ago for the sake of research. Food was great. Super flavourful, healthy, wholesome. Zero complaints about it.

This is the menu. Hero bowls are $$16 each (nett) and there are 6 types of them. Otherwise you can order your own for the same price. One type of grain, one protein, one hot veg, two cold veg, a sauce and one topping.

You queue up and pick your ingredients, by pointing at them :P

I loved how colourful and homemade they looked in these containers. I guess this is what you're paying for as compared to dishes in regular steel squares.

A great chomping ground if you're feeling up for some healthy grains and tasty food. Now if only they were more affordable to be had more often!

Here's an interesting infographic by Skyscanner on where to see sakura in Japan, other than Tokyo. This map also mentioned how you can save on air tickets if you would book flights to places like Hiroshima or Kagoshima (even though there are no direct flights unfortunately). Nevertheless, it makes me feel like going, especially to Sapporo! Hope this will inspire you to travel too.

At the end of a long day at work, all you really want to do is have a nice delicious meal with a cocktail or glass of wine in a relaxing atmosphere. And that's what the The Disgruntled Brasserie at The Club hotel on Ann Siang Road, little sister to the Disgruntled Chef at Dempsey, does. A brasserie is a French style restaurant, and while I don't find a lot of that in the decor nor the food, I'll say the ambiance was quite similar.

There are cosy booths, or regular tables for diners to enjoy a drink or meal.

We started the tasting with several small plates, such as this beautifully plated Home-Cured Salmon (S$16) with horseradish buttermilk, pickled cucumber, marinated avocadoes. If we ever found the plating to be similar to Plentyfull's, that's because Chef Desmond had trained under the same master as Chef Victor from there! I found the salmon dish to be without complaints and very aesthetically pleasing so bonus points. 4/5

Next up, the rather miniature pizza looking Escargot Tarte Flambee (S$16) with lardon, onions, creme fraiche, persillade. Loads of French sounding names here, but essentially a crispy cracker appetizer with snail on top. This was just ok. I think escargots are best enjoyed when slathered in big amounts of garlic and butter. 2.5/5

Next, a very innovative Foie Gras & Peanut Butter Miso (S$18) with Ribena gel, poached grapes, and brioche. Again the use of classic French ingredient in a surprising combination with Asian flavours. The peanut butter wasn't too overwhelming, allowing the foie gras' creamy taste to come through. I quite enjoyed it. 3.5/5

Then came one of the favourite dishes of the night - the Gruyere Cheese Souffle (S$16) with caramelised onions and chardonnay fondue. It was such a joy digging into the fluffy creamy cheesy souffle. It felt like coming home. Or going to Switzerland. Regardless, this is for sure a must-try here if you can only order one small plate. 4/5

We then had four big plates to share as well. First up was the Chilean White Cod (S$38) with salted cod brandade, Remy Martin VSOP scampi butter, lemon confit and normande sauce. Salted cod is a very Portuguese type of ingredient, but I found the dish to be unremarkable. Nothing of it stood out to me, flavour-wise. It wasn't fishy or tough though so that's good. It is also quite a small cod for the price. 2/5

The Iberico Pork Collar (S$32) with caraway milk poached caramelised cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke puree, grilled scallions and star anise jus was much more exciting, flavours and texture-wise. The pork was of the melt-in-your-mouth variety, and the slightly sour caramalised cabbage actually gave it a fantastic counterpoint, much like sauerkraut with pork knuckles. This is good for pork lovers, and while tasty, not my kind of dish. 3.5/5

Instead, I had very much preferred the two pastas. First the Homemade Squid Ink Pasta (S$28) with squid ink pasta, crabmeat, shrimps, chilli which is so simple, but delightful in execution. Sometimes we don't need to over-complicate things if ingredients are fresh and generous, like in this case. 4/5

I also could not stop having more of the Carbonara Taglierini (S$24) made with 3 types of bacon - the streaky back bacon, farmer's smoked bacon and kurobuta ham, with a parmigiano reggiano crusted egg. The pasta was al dente of course, and the egg yolk with all the cream made the carbonara super thick and cheesy. If you ordered the gruyere souffle for appetizer before, then this might be too heavy as a follow up, but if you didn't GO FOR THIS. Share it though. 4.5/5

We finally come to desserts. I was actually super impressed because I think at desserts the chef had managed to grasp the balance between creativity and taste. The Chocolate Fondant (S$18) with creme anglaise and pistachio ice cream for example, looked beautiful and the chocolate cake was not too sweet. Everything came together nicely and was my favourite among the trio. 4/5

The Lemon Curd (S$16) was a deconstructed one, made with biscuit, wildberries, vanilla chantily cream and shiso leaf ice cream (my favourite part). It's so cute, though I wished the lemon curd was more sour as it veered towards the sweet side. 3/5

Finally, the Baileys Creme Caramel (S$18) with Remy Martin cherry compote, cocoa rice crisps, kahlua ice cream. So beautiful to look at don't you think? Alcohol and dessert always work well together, and here it is no surprise. While I'd preferred to have the alcohol taste come out even more, this had quite a nice crunch of textures. 3/5

Relax, have a good time and eat some good food. The drinks here are also very reasonably priced - I had a Cousino Macul Chardonnay from Maipo Valley, Chile for just $12! I'll recommend for anyone working around the area to come here for a nice meal sometime, and be sure to order the cheese souffle, their pastas and try a dessert!

If you are unaware, and you shouldn't be, this year's Singapore Cocktail Festival is one hell of a big event! Instead of previous years where it was called Singapore Cocktail Week and there were bars participating in their own ways, this year it has scaled up to become a free entry Village concept at 99 Beach Road, where bars congregate to bring their drinks to the public at only $12 a pop from noon to 10pm.

Other than beverages and delicious food for adults, kids also get to play there. I really like the carnival type concept! Hurry, for the Village will be there for one last day today. Meanwhile participating bars will still be doing their promos/specials till this coming Tuesday. Here's a map of the event.

So many participating bars, so little time! Here are some events happening tomorrow and Tuesday as well. What are you waiting for if you haven't been?

Had a tasting of the newly launched Japanese modern fusion diner eGrill & Piza (yes, not a spelling error) a couple of weeks ago at the Cathay basement. The mall seem to get quite a high turnover as many of the shops I used to see are now closed, so I do hope eGrill & Piza can manage to stay on! I was intrigued by the Japanese-flavoured handmade pizzas so I decided to give it a go. And indeed it was the pizzas that night that wowed me the most!

We tried the Salmon Mentai Pizza and Spicy Teriyaki Chicken Pizza (S$15.90 per pizza). First up - the Salmon Mentai one was definitely the more 'family-friendly' among the two. With generous toppings of bonito flakes flapping gently in the wind and a creamy sweet mayonnaise sauce, the thin-crusted pizza had a nice bite to them. The minced salmon was a little overwhelmed by the toppings, I reckon. 3.5/5

The Spicy Teriyaki Chicken Pizza was much more 'shiok' in my opinion because of the really spicy kick due to the chilli padi seeds in there. That elevated the pizza to more than just Japanese or Western - the spice kicks it up to the Singaporean level! The chicken themselves are coated with some teriyaki sauce. Not that amazing on it's own - I just liked the surprise of the chilli. 4/5

We also tried other side dishes, and some skewers. There's a promo where for just S$36.80 you get two skewers and two pizzas for four pax! That's pretty affordable. The skewers (S$3.90 ala carte) though I didn't think was that awesome, probably 2.5/5 only. You can mix and match 2 for $6.90 or 3 for $9.90.

We had the Shrimp Paste Chicken Skewer which was ok (not much of the shrimp paste flavour) and the two fish skewers which I really didn't enjoy. The Salmon Belly Fin Skewer I found had loads of bones, and was a little raw/pink on the inside. The Grilled Mackerel Skewer was too fishy. My favourite had to be the Beef Meatball Skewer - it was just nice.

The skewers are all cooked using a robotic yakitori machine (hence the name eGrill) imported from Hong Kong and it's the only one in Singapore. The skewers are placed on a rotating tray and grilled without much oil or smoke with red hot wires. A pity on the latter actually. Real Japanese yakitori tastes good because of the charcoal smokey flavour. This is probably a healthier way to cook meat though.

By the way I was surprised that there's also alcoholic drinks (and sodas for teetotallers). Side dishes include a Smoked Salmon Salad (S$3.80) which is quite a good price for salmon and greens in Singapore. 3/5

I also really enjoyed the Truffle Fries with Truffle Salsa (S$8.80) - the fries were not overcooked (pet peeve) and quite fragrant without the often overpowering artificial truffle smell. You could order one of these to share with the set meal! 4/5

Lastly, we also tried the Sugarcane Prawn with Thai sweet chilli (S$5.80). Actually this felt a little incongruent in a place of Japanese styled pizzas and skewers, but at least it tasted delicious. In fact, I find the side dishes better than the skewers, and comparable to the pizzas! 3.5/5

Final thoughts - while an interesting concept for sure, I find eGrill & Piza to be slightly off its mark, just like how the place is spelled. I'll recommend for students (20% off with student pass) and groups of 4 to go for their awesome promos but the rest could probably skip the place and find something better (maybe in Plaza Sing).

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I'm Alexis Cheong - A Singapore food and lifestyle blogger. Passionate about good food, travel and beauty or gadgets. This blog is a place where I want to share all the things I love with over 17,700 views per month. Feel free to contact me to say hello or find out how we can collaborate.